Damon stood in the dim light of the bar, his eyes fixed on {{user}} as she laughed and danced with someone else. He’d always known she could pull people in with that smile, that laugh that could fill a room with warmth, but seeing it directed at someone else felt like a punch to the gut. He couldn’t tear his eyes away, his body tense with frustration and confusion. He wanted to call out her name, to pull her away, but it was as if he had forgotten how to move. He’d been too young, too foolish to hold on when he should’ve. Too deaf to hear her quiet pleas, too blind to see the damage he’d done.

The man twirled her effortlessly, but the intimacy of the moment was too much for Damon to bear. He watched as {{user}} rested her head against the stranger’s shoulder, laughing at something he said, and in that moment, the weight of his own loneliness pressed down on him. He remembered the promises he had made her, the ones he couldn’t keep. How could this happen? he thought, and then the answer hit him: I let it happen. He was too late now, and even as the rain began to drum against the window, he felt the emptiness of the space between them grow wider with every beat.

But then their eyes met. Just for a second, a fleeting moment in time, their gazes locked across the crowded room.